


Glass Houses (Love We Can't Have)

by AlmyranGold



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: "You just made the soulmates work that way for the cheap tension of only one party knowing", Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Chapter 2 is literally just fluff guys, Drinking, Everyone Needs A Hug, Homophobia, I create the Sylvain/Claude broship IS denied me, I physically cannot write a fic without Claude Von Riegan in it, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Sylvain genuinely caring about his friends, Sylvain needs a hug, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wedding Fluff, i'm weak, no beta we die like Glenn, okay and, that's important, wow this is angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:08:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22220809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmyranGold/pseuds/AlmyranGold
Summary: Sylvain's soulmark was nothing short of a curse.(Angsty Sylvix Soulmate AU with a gratuitously fluffy ending!)
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan, Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier, Ingrid Brandl Galatea/Raphael Kirsten
Comments: 19
Kudos: 472





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic gets pretty heavy, so please mind the tags and take care of yourself!

At eleven years old, Sylvain was still brimming with excitement.

Tomorrow was his twelfth birthday- the day that your soulmate's name would appear on your skin. It was, undoubtedly, the most important day of one's life, if the fifteen books on the topic that adorned Sylvain's shelves were to be believed. Sylvain's parents had reminded him several times over the last week that if he received a name that was not of a noble girl, he was to ignore it and move on immediately. He wasn't worried about that. Surely the Goddess understood his circumstances. She wouldn't give him a soulmate he couldn't be with.

"You know soulmates don't matter for people like you," Miklan always said when he saw Sylvain reading his books. "Mother and Father are gonna ship you off with some noble girl to produce as many Crest babies as possible regardless of the name on your skin."

Sylvain didn't let it get to him. Mother and Father had promised to take his soulmate under consideration so long as the match would work politically. Besides, if he argued, his brother would just get angrier and hit him. Miklan was just jealous because he had a date on his skin, and it was nearly eight years away.

That was the trick- only the older of the pair got a name written on their skin. The younger got a date imprinted on them- the day the pair would meet. Sylvain hoped he would get a name on his skin- he was terrified that he'd end up like Miklan, bitter because his soulmate was so far away. No one had announced they had his name yet, so that was a good sign. Then again, many people thought it was bad luck to actively seek out your soulmate.

A date wouldn’t be bad either. He’d have a timeline, then. Either way, everything would be okay.

Despite his parents' advice to sleep, he stayed up eagrily, waiting for the clock to strike midnight. He watched the clock hands ticking away the minutes and wondered if he'd see a name or a date. He grew nervous as time grew closer and closer. What if nothing appeared at all? That happened to some people. His father had no name or date on his skin. His mother had a date, but her soulmate had tragically died three days after it. She never spoke of him.

As soon as the clock struck midnight, Sylvain threw off his shirt and looked in the mirror. Soulmate marks could be anywhere, but Sylvain didn't have to look hard for his. Three words had been printed underneath his heart in small, loopy blue print. Three words that made his heart sink like a ship.

Felix Hugo Fraldarius.

When his parents asked, he said he had no mark.

-

The goddess must have made a mistake. His soulmate was supposed to be a noble girl that he’d get to marry. Felix was a noble, but… he had to produce heirs. He couldn’t marry a boy.

“Hello? Sylvaaaain?” Ingrid poked him in the chest.

Sylvain came back around. “Sorry, Ingrid. I got distracted. What’d you say?”

“I asked if you got a name or a date.”

Dimitri and Felix peered at him curiously. He couldn’t say he didn’t see this coming- he was the oldest of his friends. Of course they’d want to know. He’d barely been at the castle ten minutes when it was brought up.

Avoiding Felix’s gaze, he shrugged and said, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Don’t want to talk about it!” Ingrid looked at him incredulously. “It’s all you’ve talked about for the last year!”

“Well, it’s personal. If I tell you, you’ll go blabbing to everyone else, and my soulmate might hear. That’d be bad luck.”

“So it’s a name, then.”

Sylvain sighed. “Yes, Ingrid, it’s a name. Are you happy?”

“You can tell me, you know. I’m not a blabbermouth like Felix.”

“I am not a blabbermouth!” Felix argued.

“If he doesn’t want to tell us, he doesn’t have to,” Dimitri interjected. Sylvain looked at him gratefully. “It is very personal business.”

“Fine. But don’t expect me to tell you what I get if you aren’t going to tell me!” she declared.

“That’s fine,” Sylvain said. Honestly, he wouldn’t mind if the topic of soulmates never came up again.

-

Dimitri was the next to turn 12. There was a huge celebration at the castle to celebrate.

Sylvain didn’t understand why. Dimitri was in the exact same boat as the rest of them- unless his soulmate happened to be a crest-bearing noblewoman, it meant nothing. And he was proof of the fact that the goddess didn’t take such things into account.

It had taken almost a year after his birthday for Sylvain to stop avoiding Felix when the Fraldariuses came over. It was only when Felix asked Sylvain why he hated him, the tears he had sworn off long ago brimming in his eyes, that Sylvain had given in. He had never been able to resist when the younger boy cried.

Eventually, he was able to spar and talk with his friend as if he didn’t have his name written across his heart. The mask he’d previously saved for his parents and other adults was now used for his closest friends. It made him feel incredibly lonely, but he knew it would be even worse if anyone knew his burden.

He tried not to rub this pessimism off on Dimitri, who was excitedly showing his friends the date printed on the back of his hand. 2/10/1180, just over five years away. 

Still, he couldn’t help himself from asking at least one question. “What if it’s a commoner? Or someone else you can’t marry?”

The smile didn’t leave Dimitri’s face. “I know everything will work out. Father says to just leave it to the goddess.”

Sylvain couldn’t exactly tell him why that was bullshit, so he closed his mouth and hoped Dimitri didn’t get his heart broken.

Not a month later, Ingrid’s mark appeared in the middle of her back. 1/10/1163, the day the Fraldariuses had come to congratulate Count Galatea on the birth of his daughter. Glenn soon revealed that he had her name imprinted on his skin, which he had been hiding for four years so as to let her see her own soulmark first.

Sylvain should have been happy for his friend. He was! Ingrid’s soulmate was her fiance. Things couldn’t have worked out better for her. But it also made him even more bitter about his own mark. 

It was about this time that he really began to flirt with girls. He couldn’t have his soulmate anyways. Why hold back? Ingrid constantly chastised him for it, but he couldn’t care less. It was easy for her to say, with her perfect circumstances and her perfect soulmate. She wasn’t some freak with her best friend’s name on her skin. He would have to marry one of these bratty noble girls eventually, he might as well get used to being around them.

The month after that held the day he had been dreading for years now. Felix’s twelfth birthday. He and his friends all sat on the floor in Felix’s room, waiting for Felix to deliver the news.

Felix scowled as he showed them the date imprinted on his foot. 2/30/1163.

“That was the day everyone showed up to congratulate my family on my birth. There were tons of nobles milling around with their kids. It’s impossible to know who it could have been,” he said, averting his eyes. 

“Well, that means your soulmate has your name. You two will certainly find each other,” Dimitri assured him.

“And, if it was a noble, that means you’ll be able to marry them for sure. It’s all gonna work out, Fe!” Ingrid chirped.

Sylvain felt like he was going to be sick.

-

Sylvain had been so, so careful for nearly three years. But it was hard to hide the secrets you carry on your skin.

Miklan had a habit of bursting into Sylvain’s room without warning, usually in an attempt to catch him flirting with some girl and scare her off. But that day, he discovered something much worse- Sylvain changing clothes, leaving Felix’s name on full display.

Sylvain begged him to be quiet, not to tell, but Miklan grabbed him by his hair and dragged him to their parents. “Look,” he spit. “He was lying about not having a soulmate.”

Margrave Gautier read the name aloud in disgust. His mother gasped, then simply turned away.

Hours later, Sylvain had several new bruises and a solemn threat implanted in his head. If anyone found out about the name, it would be burned off of him.

“Surely you don’t think Felix is a freak like you,” Miklan sneered. “Maybe I’ll tell him.”

Miklan never did tell Felix. He preferred to have the leverage on his younger brother. It was almost worse than Felix knowing. Almost.

-

A year later, their entire world fell apart.

Duscur happened. Felix lost his brother. Ingrid lost her soulmate. Dimitri lost his entire family.

Felix didn’t attend Glenn’s funeral, and Dimitri was still being cared for at the castle. So Sylvain held Ingrid for hours while she cried at Rodrigue’s speech on how Glenn had died a knight’s perfect death.

Everything was different after that. Ingrid stopped lecturing him on the importance of soulmates. She threw herself into training and spurned romance as a whole. Dimitri always seemed distant, his eyes carrying sadness beyond his years. Sylvain would finish telling a joke only to look up and see the prince staring at the wall behind him, unmoving.

And gone was the Felix who bit his lip and tried to hold back his tears. He seemed to have none left. He fell into training even harder than Ingrid, to the point that Sylvain hadn’t done anything with him but spar in months.

And Sylvain? He supposed he didn’t change that much on the outside. He tried to act the same, hoping to be a constant for his friends. It didn’t seem to work. They grew distant. So he began to flirt even more, with women without soulmarks, women whose soulmates had died, and anyone else who would have him. He left a trail of broken hearts across Faerghus.

It wasn’t long after the Tragedy that Miklan left Sylvain on the mountain. Sylvain was no stranger to the cold, hailing from Northern Faerghus, but the snowstorm cut deep into his bones in a way he’d never felt before. He only spent a few hours trudging through the snow and calling Miklan’s name before he sank under a tree and stared out at the forest before him blankly.

He remembered vaguely the promise he and Felix had made as kids, that they would both die together. Seemed he was about to break his end of the deal. Then again, once he was cursed with Felix’s name on his chest, he supposed they were always going to be driven apart. The goddess truly was cruel; trying to push him and Felix together had left them both alone.

He put his hand over his heart, over Felix’s name, and closed his eyes.

When he woke up days later, there was no one at his bedside but his nurse. When he’d been pushed down the well as a child, he’d woken to all three of his friends worrying over him. But they weren’t children anymore; they had bigger concerns.

His body had warmed up, but he still felt the cold deep inside him.

-

At Garreg Mach, the four friends grew closer once again. Things still weren’t like they were before the Tragedy, but Sylvain learned how to communicate with these new versions of his friends. Ingrid still griped at him for flirting, though the word soulmate never found its way into her lectures these days. Dimitri was still distant at times, but he made efforts to spend time with all of them, even if Felix now bristled at the prince’s every word. Sylvain didn’t know what had happened there.

Felix still spent most of his days training, but he would agree to meals with Sylvain and even trips to the market, occasionally. He always rejected Sylvain’s proposals to go to town and pick up women, however.

“I’m not interested in women,” Felix stated bluntly one day, and Sylvain’s heart seized. But that didn’t mean Felix was interested in men. It could mean he was interested in no one. That would make things easier for Sylvain.

Soulmates were a sore topic for all of them, but they still occasionally managed to discuss who Dimitri’s may be. His date had ended up being their first day at the monastery, and Dimitri had been introduced to so many people he couldn’t pinpoint which one may be his soulmate. No one had come forward with his name either, which worried Sylvain. He wondered if Dimitri’s soulmate was hiding his name for the same reasons he hid Felix’s.

Every once and awhile, Sylvain would extend his flirtations to men. He had suppressed the urge for a long time, certain that his parents would erase Felix’s name if they learned that Sylvain was actually inclined towards the same gender. But the monastery put enough distance between himself and them that he allowed moments of weakness, so long as no one else found out. Whereas he’d woo his women anytime, anywhere, his meetings with men were kept to remote corners of the cathedral and the back of poorly-lit taverns. He hated himself for it, but it didn’t stop him.

He couldn’t explain why the thought of Felix’s name being burned off him terrified him so. It certainly would make things easier- he would be able to be shirtless in front of his conquests, and tell them tragic tales about the scars left behind. But he couldn’t bear the thought of losing the mark. It would be worse than losing a limb. It would be like losing a part of his soul. 

He wouldn’t admit to himself that he knew why- that no man he kissed behind the bushes could satisfy him because it wasn’t Felix. He’d fallen hard for Felix’s eyes, his hair, the smile he rarely saw. He fell in love with Felix’s everything despite his desperate attempts not to see his friend that way. And everytime he looked at him and imagined the life they could have together, he felt dirty.

They weren’t meant to be. And Sylvain was sick for thinking they might be.

-

He had been at the monastery for a few months when he finally shared his secret, and acquired someone else’s.

He and Claude had become fast friends after the other man invited him to a game of chess one day. The leader of the Golden Deer was an enigma wrapped in an enigma, and though they avoided talking about most truly significant things, Sylvain enjoyed his company. He still hung out with his childhood friends most days, but when Felix’s harsh tone turned a bit too biting, or he couldn’t stand another of Ingrid’s lectures, he’d turn to Claude for a board game and a few jokes.

One night Claude brought out a bottle of golden alcohol Sylvain had never seen before and asked if Sylvain would like to try some. Sylvain agreed, of course. The alcohol tasted like fire in his throat, and he knew it must be strong stuff. So be it. He had a certification exam tomorrow, but he’d passed them hungover before.

A few drinks in, Claude looked up at Sylvain with a sly grin. “Hey, Sylvain. How’sabout a game?”

“More chess?” Sylvain asked.

“Sort of. A special version of chess. Strip chess,” Claude grinned.

Sylvain raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t know you liked men, Claude.”

Claude laughed, but Sylvain didn’t miss that it was a little strained. The liquor was wearing away Claude’s careful facade, and Sylvain worried it was doing the same to him.

“It’s not like that. It just drives home how badly I kicked your ass when you’re sitting there in your underwear.”

“You’re on,” Sylvain said without thinking. Oh, well. He could always feign boredom and leave if he began to lose enough that his shirt was in danger of coming off.

Sylvain won the first game, and Claude pulled off his shirt with a laugh. Claude won the second, but when Sylvain went to tug his pants off, Claude made a tsk sound. “Shirt first. That’s how the game works.”

Sylvain’s stomach dropped. “I thought you were all about breaking the rules,” he quipped.

“Not when I made them. Now, c’mon. Shirt off.”

“I’d rather not.”

Claude leaned in closer. “Is it because of your mark?”

Ah. So this had been his game all along. Sylvain wasn’t stupid- he knew Claude liked to try and figure people out, and that he’d probably get the same treatment. But he didn’t expect Claude to go after his soulmark. Ask him why he was claustrophobic, try to unravel his flirtations, inquire about his family life, something like that would have been fine. He’d much rather unload years of Miklan’s torment than this.

“Did someone tell you that?” Sylvain looked him in the eyes. Daring him to go on.

“Nope. I figured it out on my own. Someone who espouses as much about romance as you and never brings up soulmates? Something’s up.”

Sylvain thought for a moment. “It’s not like you’re sharing information about yours either.”

Claude didn’t share any information, really, so Sylvain was taking a chance. It was perfectly possible that Claude wasn’t ashamed of it and would just show him his soulmark, and then Sylvain would really be screwed. But the other boy’s shoulders tensed slightly. So it was a sore subject for him too. Well, he shouldn’t have been throwing stones when he lived in a glass house too.

“You expect me to tell you about my soulmark and get nothing in return? You’ve gotta get better at trade deals if you’re gonna lead the Alliance,” Sylvain quipped.

Claude shrugged. “Alright, so you caught me. I’m not proud of mine either.”

Sylvain was about to make a huge mistake, one he wouldn’t make any other time. But the alcohol let his words flow freer than they should. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

Claude raised an eyebrow, but avoided the obvious joke. “You sure that’s a good idea?”

“No. But if I’m gonna show anyone, it’s gonna be someone who barely knows me.”

That didn’t make much sense even to Sylvain himself, but Claude nodded. “Okay, sure. But you go first.”

Sylvain took a deep breath and pulled up his shirt. Claude’s eyes immediately went to his chest and looked over his name.

Claude made an affirmative noise in the back of his throat. “That makes sense.”

“Makes sense?” Sylvain asked. 

“Dimitri said you wouldn’t tell him or your other friends anything about it. I figured the two most reasonable explanations were that it was one of them, or that it was a man. Possibly both, since I know Ingrid was engaged to her soulmate. And it wasn’t Dimitri, so.”

Sylvain narrowed his eyes. “How were you so sure it wasn’t Dimitri?”

Claude responded by laughing lightly and pulling down the hem of his pants to reveal the name on his hip. It was in about the same blue as Sylvain’s mark, but with much more concise and neat letters. Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd.

“Damn,” Sylvain breathed. “You too.”

“I knew he was coming to the academy. I really hoped he was ugly and unlikeable.”

“Was he?”

Claude laughed again, his face taking on a dreamy, wistful expression. “No. Not at all.”

“So are you gonna go for it?”

“No. I’ve got ambitions that have to take priority over love. And I can’t achieve them with a man by my side.”

“Ambitions more important even than the Goddesses’ divine matchmaking?”

Claude snorted. “Y’know, Duscur and Brigid have soulmates too, and they don’t worship the goddess.”

“Your point being?”

“Well, maybe this is just the alcohol talking,” Claude raised the bottle in the air, “But I’m not sure how much faith I have in this ‘unfailing’ goddess of yours.”

Sylvain snatched the bottle from him and took another swig before saying, “Me neither.”

-

They were closer after that. Sylvain considered him a real friend, not a backup option. 

And they never had to promise one another not to bring up their marks. That was understood.

Sylvain could keep secrets- of course he could- but he nearly blew it the next day when he sat by his friends at dinner, still incredibly hungover.

Ingrid rolled her eyes as he groaned and shielded his eyes from the lights. 

“Idiot,” Felix scoffed. “If you don’t want a hangover, don’t get piss-drunk on a Tuesday.”

“It’s called having fun, Felix. You could stand to try it.”

“Oh for the love of-”

“A-Anyways,” Dimitri said. “I think you’re right, Ingrid. It’s a strong possibility, at least.”

“What’s that?” Sylvain asked, taking a sip of his water.

“We think Marianne’s his soulmate.”

Sylvain nearly spat onto the table.

As it was, he still got a concerned look from Dimitri and a glare from the other two. “What the hell’s your problem?” Felix asked.

While he remembered sharing their soulmarks, last night was a bit of a blur for Sylvain, and it had just sunk in at that moment that he knew who Dimitri’s soulmate was. He knew, and he couldn’t tell.

He tried to play it off. “Marianne? No way. I’m pretty sure she’s sixteen.”

“She’s seventeen, and her birthday is before mine,” Dimitri told him.

“They met on the tenth. Claude introduced them. And we don’t know if Marianne has a name or a date- we’ve found out that a lot of the girls he met that day had dates, but not her,” Ingrid said.

Sylvain was going to explode. Here they were, still full of hope that the goddess had bound Dimitri to some girl who he’d make Queen of Faerghus. Despite Ingrid losing her soulmate at thirteen, despite Felix’s belief that he may never find out who his was. And Sylvain knew the truth- Dimitri’s soulmate had already written him off as a pipe dream. Dimitri was like him, like Felix. Cursed.

“Maybe. You should ask her. But don’t get your hopes too high,” he said.

He couldn’t bear to watch this. After all Dimitri had been through.

Did soulmate matches bring anyone joy? Or were they divine punishment?

-

It was 5/8/1180. The date that had been on Miklan’s skin.

Miklan deserved nothing. But Sylvain secretly hoped he’d met his soulmate anyways.

Maybe at least one Gautier could be happy.

-

Sylvain got his answer long after Miklan’s death, when his father called him home to quell the rest of his brother’s thieves.

In the midst of the thieves was a very pregnant woman, slashing away at anyone who got close with a knife. As Sylvain finished off all the other thieves around her, she looked up at Sylvain with fury in her eyes. She rolled up her arm and revealed the name Miklan Anschutz Gautier.

“Brother killer,” she spat at him. He could only watch as she was dragged off, probably to be presented to his father. 

He was told later that the baby would be placed in an orphanage. It felt strange knowing that he had a niece or nephew he’d never meet, but he supposed he hadn’t earned the right to be in their life anyways.

-

The day after that, he broke down in Ingrid’s arms.

It was an awful thing to do. She’d simply come into his room and asked if he was feeling alright, and he’d cried eight years’ worth of tears on her.

Ingrid just held him for a while, letting him cry just as he had let her at Glenn’s funeral. He cried for everything- for Glenn, for Ingrid, for Miklan, for the baby, for Claude and Dimitri, and for Felix and what they could never be.

“I’m a monster, Ingrid,” he told her.

“You’re not a monster,” she whispered. “You did what you had to do. And you couldn’t have known Miklan had a baby.”

“No, I-” he took a deep, shuddering breath and pulled his shirt off, tossing it to the floor. Ingrid looked at his soulmark, and tears brimmed in her eyes.

“Oh, Sylvain,” she said. “Oh, oh, Sylvain.”

-

“Claude’s my soulmate.” Dimitri threw himself into the seat across from them, breathless.

“What?” Felix asked, forgetting his grudge in a moment of pure confusion.

“Lorenz saw his mark- it’s- it’s my name- Claude’s my soulmate.” Dimitri took a gasping breath.

Sylvain closed his eyes and sighed. He knew this would happen. He’d do his best to comfort Dimitri-

“Claude’s my soulmate.” This time Dimitri said it slower, and a big grin crept across his face.

“Are you happy about it?” Ingrid asked.

“Yes. I- I was worried maybe the goddess had made a mistake. Perhaps she had picked someone convenient and not someone I’d like. But I should have known she wouldn’t. I really like Claude. And he’s my soulmate.” Dimitri smiled again.

Sylvain’s heart thudded in his chest. “And you’ve talked to him about this?” he asked.

“Well- no. Not yet. But I’m going to speak with him right now.”

“Well then, stop waiting around! Go!” Ingrid shooed him with her hands, and Dimitri scampered off before Sylvain could issue his warning.

This was bad. Very, very bad.

-

...Or so he thought.

“Claude and I talked about it,” Dimitri told them the next day. “...And we’re keeping it a secret, but we’re going to try to make it work.”

“That’s amazing!” Ingrid clapped. “I’m so happy for you!”

Felix simply humphed and turned away, but Sylvain saw the small smile on his face.

Claude shrugged when Sylvain asked him about it. “I can’t resist the man’s puppy-dog eyes. I’m weak. And besides, now’s probably gonna be the only time we have to try anyways.”

“You’re gonna break his heart when we graduate,” Sylvain warned.

“Look who’s talking,” Claude laughed. When he saw Sylvain’s face remain serious, he put his hands up in defense. “I’m not saying I’ll break it off as soon as we graduate. Who knows if we’ll even still be together then. But eventually we’ll both be married, to women. We discussed that, and Dimitri wants to be together regardless. So we’re going to try.”

Sylvain opened his mouth to issue another warning, but Claude cut him off. “I don’t need the shovel talk, Sylvain. I don’t plan on breaking his heart. He is my soulmate, after all.”

“Okay,” Sylvain finally conceded. “Just know it was going to be super-intimidating.”

Claude laughed again. “I’m sure.” As he turned to leave the room, he looked back at the other man. “And Sylvain? I’m still not sure about the goddess, but there just might be something to this soulmate thing. Maybe you should talk to Felix about it.” 

And with that, he was gone, leaving Sylvain with feelings he really didn’t feel like having.

-

Sylvain decided to talk to Dimitri and Ingrid about the idea, figuring that they may have better insight than Claude on the situation. He probably should have prefaced the meeting, though, because after dragging the two to the privacy of his room and saying “I need to tell you something important,” Ingrid’s face paled.

“Did you get someone pregnant?”

“What? No!”

Ingrid let out a sigh of relief.

“Why would you assume that?” Sylvain asked.

“Well, to be fair, Sylvain, it’s not an unreasonable guess given your… proclivities,” Dimitri said.

“Goddess, no. What I was GOING to say is that I think I’m going to tell Felix.”

“Oh!” Ingrid perked back up. “That’s much better than what I thought.”

“Tell Felix what?” Dimitri looked between them, confused.

“We’re soulmates.”

“You and Felix?” Dimitri looked stunned.

Sylvain pulled his shirt up enough to show Dimitri his mark. The prince’s eyes widened.

“Oh. So that’s why you never told us…”

“Why the sudden change of heart? When you told me just two weeks ago, you made me swear I’d never speak of it,” Ingrid said.

“Well… I mean, I think it’s pretty obvious why I didn’t want to tell him. But Claude had all the same fears about telling Dimitri, and everything worked out between you two… And I guess I’ve just been assuming Felix wouldn’t take it well instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt.” 

“Wait. You knew Claude was my soulmate?” Dimitri asked.

“Oh, uh, yeah. We got drunk one night and showed each other our marks. He was the first person besides my family I told.”

“You told your family?” Ingrid said incredulously. 

“Not voluntarily. Miklan saw it.” 

She sucked in a breath. “Oh goddess.”

“Yeah. So if I don’t tell him while we’re at the academy, I might never get to. They barely wanted to send me knowing he was here.”

Ingrid seemed to consider it for a moment, but Dimitri responded almost instantly. “Then you should tell him.”

“Someone’s become quite the romantic,” Sylvain chuckled. Dimitri blushed at the comment. “Ingrid?”

She looked up at him. “I agree. I mean, even though our battles are carefully picked here, we’re still out there fighting. Goddess forbid anything happen to us, but if it did, you’d regret not telling him.”

And that just about broke Sylvain’s heart. “Oh, geez, Ingrid, I always forget. Here Dimitri and I are going on and on about soulmates and…”

“No, don’t worry about that.” Ingrid smiled sadly. “I’ve been talking to a few other students who don’t have marks or lost their soulmate… lots of people are happy regardless. I’m just glad for the time I got to spend with Glenn.”

The two shared a hug. Afterwards, Sylvain turned on Dimitri and gave him a hug too. The prince was startled, but he eventually returned it with a smile.

“Now, go get your man.” Ingrid clapped him on the back.

-

Sylvain took a deep breath. He could do this. He raised a hand to knock on Felix’s door.

He couldn’t do this.

The door suddenly opened. Felix glared at him, ponytail undone and hair around his shoulders. “What,” he sighed.

Sylvain stalled and stared at Felix for probably too long.

“Are you going to say something or just stand there like an idiot?” Felix griped.

“Uh, sorry. Can I come in? This probably isn’t something you want to hear in the doorway.”

Felix wordlessly opened the door and retreated into his room. Sylvain closed it behind him and sat at Felix’s desk, across from the bed where Felix sat.

“I hope we can still be friends after I tell you this,” Sylvain said.

Felix’s eyes narrowed. “Did you get someone pregnant?”

“Why does everyone ask me that?” he groaned. “But no. It’s… arguably more serious. No one’s dead!” he quickly amended as a flash of horror crossed Felix’s face. 

His face reset to its usual scowl. “Then what is it? Spit it out already.”

Sylvain took a deep breath. Then another. “I’m… We’re…”

Felix raised an eyebrow.

“I can’t say it. I’d better just show you.” Sylvain began to pull his shirt off. He must have taken his shirt off in front of people more times in the past month than he had his entire life. As he set the shirts beside him, he felt Felix’s eyes on his chest. He looked up and saw Felix mouthing the words. Felix Hugo Fraldarius.

There was a pause as Felix seemed to be processing what he saw. Eventually he looked up at Sylvain and said softly, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Lots of reasons. But they don’t seem as important now.” Sylvain looked down. “But I mean, it’s totally up to you how we handle this. We can just pretend this never happened if that’s what you want.”

Felix frowned. “Why would you think I’d wanna do that?”

“Well, for one, I don’t know if you like boys-”

“Sylvain, I’ve told you a thousand times that I’m not interested in girls. And you’re my soulmate. I’m not sure how much clearer I could be.”

“I mean- also we’re going to have to have heirs one day-”

“You know what, I take it back. Shut up and let me talk,” Felix said, and Sylvain immediately obliged.

“I know there are a million reasons not to try. And that soulmates don’t always work about. But if you want to make this work, we can. I’ve kind of had a crush on you for a while now.” He looked down and scowled as he said the last part.

Sylvain blinked once, twice. “For real?”

“Yes, for real, idiot. If the boar can have a stupid, ill-advised relationship, we can too.”

Sylvain smiled, blinding and genuine, as eight years of weight were lifted off his shoulders.

Maybe, just maybe, things would be okay.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I meant for this chapter to be pretty short, but it's almost 3500 words of pure fluff. Oops. I'm weak for cute wedding scenes.
> 
> But it does wrap up the story, even if the tone is completely different!

At twenty-eight years old, Sylvain was brimming with excitement.

Today was the day he'd been dreaming of for years. For a long time, it had seemed impossible, but as his father's health grew worse his dream came closer and closer to fruition. Then, several months ago, he had died: a bittersweet development. There had never been any love lost between the two, but he was still Sylvain's father. Nevertheless, Sylvain immediately jumped on the opportunity it provided- to finally marry Felix.

Dimitri stood in front of Sylvain, helping to adjust his tie. While he was technically Felix’s best man, he had helped Sylvain dress because Ingrid was, to quote, “not interested in seeing any more of Sylvain than I already have.” As if it was Sylvain's fault that she barged into his room to wake him up that day. 

In the three years since the war had ended, Dimitri and Felix had grown close once again as Felix finally accepted that the prince had left behind his bestial side. When Felix asked him to be his best man, Dimitri cried. “Just because we need you there for political reasons,” Felix had scowled, but the hug shared between them only moments later undercut the assertion. 

It was true to a degree- there was no way Sylvain and Felix’s marriage would be accepted had it not received the beloved king’s blessing. Even so, Sylvain could often hear murmurs among the other nobles when they sat beside each other at political meetings. He didn’t mind, though. He knew it could be much worse.

His father had died without an inkling of knowledge about their relationship. His mother had a fit as soon as she heard, of course, but there was little she could do now that he was Margrave Gautier. His father had taken all chances of another heir with him when he died, and she had to accept that Sylvain would rule their lands with Felix’s ring around his finger.

He wouldn’t go without an heir, though. He was reminded of this as Ingrid came back into the dressing room with Raphael, who carried a red-haired girl in his arms.

After the war, Ingrid was married off to Linhardt. She had only been living with the von Hevrings for a matter of months, however, when Linhardt and Caspar, who were apparently soulmates, eloped and disappeared into the woods. Ingrid didn’t seem to mind much- she returned to House Galatea with enough money from the divorce settlement to keep the territory running smoothly. She reconnected with Raphael during a diplomatic trip to Alliance territory, and discovered that he had lost his soulmate in the war. They began dating, and before long Raphael moved his family in with House Galatea. The two had been married several months ago, in a beautiful ceremony that had everyone in tears, even Felix.

Raphael smiled brightly at Sylvain, wearing a tuxedo that barely fit despite the tailor’s best attempts to make more room for his biceps. As the little girl in his arms began flailing around, Raphael set her back on the ground. She ran straight towards Sylvain and wrapped her arms around his waist in a hug, calling out, “Uncle Sylvain!”

Sylvain’s parents had done a good job of distancing the girl from their family, placing her in an Alliance orphanage and registering her under her mother’s surname, but Sylvain was determined to find her. After the war’s conclusion, he tracked down one of the last remaining members of Miklan’s old gang and bribed his brother’s soulmate’s name from him. He then paid as many people as he could to search Fodlan for an eight year old with the last name Birgona. Rose Birgona was found within a few months, still living at the orphanage. If her shock of red hair wasn’t giveaway enough, she had the same eyes as Miklan- which had freaked Sylvain out at first, but he was determined not to let that impact their relationship. He adopted her immediately, to the disdain of his parents. She was a shy girl, and very wary of him at first, but after a year she finally seemed to accept that Sylvain would not send her away like the other families who had taken her in. His parents were not fans of her by any stretch of the imagination, but they allowed the adoption in the hopes that the compromise would encourage him to agree to one of their arranged marriages. It didn’t.

By now she was comfortable around all of his friends, and she especially liked Felix- lucky, as he was about to be her legal guardian as well. She was hopping around the room from person to person, demanding another piggyback ride from Uncle Raphael and begging Auntie Ingrid to sneak her a candy.

Sylvain had the shock of his life a little over a year after adopting her, when she insisted on trying to fight with a lance like her uncle. After a few practice swings, she took a deep breath and gave the dummy a particularly wicked stab. The Crest of Gautier appeared above her head as the weapon sank into straw. It had been thought impossible for a crestless person to produce a crested child, even if it ran in their bloodline, but Rose stood in stark contrast to that. He kept her Crest hidden from his parents, terrified of how they’d treat her if they found out. It was only after his father died that, with Rose’s permission, he officially changed her name to Rose Birgona Gautier and declared her heir of Gautier territory. The revelation had brought many crest scholars to his door, but he turned them away time after time. Rose’s circumstances may make a difference on how crests and nobility are viewed in the future, but Sylvain was determined to push that date back until Rose was ready to decide for herself how she wanted to address the issue. He couldn’t bear the thought of his niece thinking he only loved her for her crest.

He often wondered what Miklan would think about it all. His child having a crest, and being raised by Sylvain. He hoped his brother would be proud of him, that maybe his daughter’s crest would allow him to release the grudge Sylvain’s had always caused. There was really no way to know, so Sylvain tried to imagine the good possibilities and ignore the bad.

Dimitri scooped the hyper girl into his arms. “You had better be careful, missy. You’ll break a leg jumping like that,” he chuckled, and the girl squealed happily and threw her arms around his neck.

“Uncle Dimitri! I missed you! You’re always so busy with king stuff,” she pouted.

Dimitri was, indeed, always busy. Mostly with the reparations and politics of Fhirdiad, but also trying to find time to sneak away to Almyra. While he and Claude had been separated by the war, they found each other once again near its end, and Claude’s presence was one of the big factors ensuring Dimitri didn’t spiral into darkness again. The two spent far more time apart than they would prefer, being kings of countries hundreds of miles apart and being forced to keep their relationship a secret. The people of Faerghus likely wouldn’t cause too much fuss over Dimitri and Claude’s union- they were soulmates, after all, and the people loved their king enough that it shouldn’t matter- but Claude, while a good and respected king, was still seen as an outsider by many of the Almyrans, who had pieced together the fact that he had been leader of the Alliance for years. Claude feared that a marriage to the Faerghan King would give his political opposition enough ammunition to cause unrest in the country. It had been difficult for both of them, but neither were willing to give up either their country or each other, so they made do with the little time they had. 

Luckily, the marriage of the king’s prime advisor had proved a good enough excuse for Claude to make an extended visit to Fhirdiad. Right now he was probably still in the main room, overseeing setup with Dorothea.

“You look good,” Ingrid told Sylvain with a small smile.

“Thanks, Ing. You’re gonna be the prettiest groomsman out there,” he said. It was a joke he’d already made several times- it wasn’t very traditional to have a woman as your best man, but at the same time, it wasn’t traditional for a man to marry a man, so who really cared?

“She sure will be!” Raphael bellowed. “You can’t even tell she’s pregnant!”

Sylvain’s eyes widened, and he heard Dimitri choke on the water he was drinking, though he thankfully kept a hold on his niece. “What?!” Sylvain shouted.

Ingrid lightly punched her husband’s arm. “Well, we were trying to keep that a secret until after the wedding, but yes.” Raphael blushed as he realized his mistake. “We’re going to have a baby.”

Rose broke the stunned silence first. “There’s a baby in your tummy?”

“Yes, there is,” Ingrid replied with a smile.

“How’d it get in there?”

“Okay! That’s enough of that line of questioning,” Sylvain announced as he took his niece back from Dimitri. “I think someone needs to go get her flower basket from Mercedes.”

Rose’s face practically melted in horror. “I forgot!” She crawled out of Sylvain’s grasp and ran out of the room to find Mercedes.

“Well, congratulations, you two,” Dimitri said at last, with a great big smile. “I have to admit, even though I assumed you two would have children, it still comes as a surprise.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Ingrid rolled her eyes. “We were going to wait until everything settled down a bit more, but sometimes the Goddess has other plans.”

“Well, you two are married- that’s all that really matters, right?” Sylvain grinned. “I’m really excited for you two. Have you decided on a name?”

“Oh, goddess, no. We only found out a few weeks ago.”

“And Ingrid doesn’t like any of my names,” Raphael added.

“Because Cornelius is an awful name!- But we won’t get into that here. Today is your day.” She smiled at Sylvain. “And speaking of, we should probably make sure Felix hasn’t crawled out a window to go fight something.”

“That’s true.” Dimitri stood up. “He really needs a less disruptive way of dealing with stress.”

“Go, go,” Sylvain laughed as he shooed them all out. “I need to read over my vows anyways.”

The room cleared out quickly, and in the silence that followed, Sylvain realized just how bad his nerves were. His hands shook a little as he sat back in his chair and pulled out a slip of paper.

“Afraid Felix will leave you for a real man like me?”

Sylvain laughed and shook his head as he heard the voice behind him. “You wish, Claude. Besides, aren’t you busy wrangling Dimitri?”

The Almyran king laughed as well as he sauntered into the room and stood over Sylvain’s shoulder, looking at the two of them in the mirror. “Don’t underestimate my skills, Gautier.”

“How’s Almyra?” he asked.

“Oh, same as ever. We’re still brokering the terms of our treaty with the Alliance. Lots of their nobles don’t seem to understand that we don’t have that much gold to trade, and they’re not interested in our currency.” Claude rubbed his eyes. “But I am so sick of talking about that. Are you ready for today?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Sylvain replied.

Claude grinned. “That’s good. The wedding’s gonna go great, y’know. Dima and I will probably never get one, so we’ll be living vicariously through you.”

“Oh, you’ll get one eventually. If nothing else, one day you’ll be old enough that you’ll stop giving a shit what people think.” 

“I’m getting there already,” Claude replied.

Sylvain hummed in agreement and adjusted his bow tie again. He only succeeded in making it more crooked. Oh well.

“Y’know, I’m not sure there’s any way we could have known we’d be here all those years ago when we got drunk and showed each other our marks,” he remarked.

“Nah, I figured you and Felix would end up together. Couldn’t say the same about me and Dima, but I’m glad we did.”

“You two are good for each other. Shame that politics gets in the way.”

“Politics are pretty much the bane of my existence,” Claude agreed. “I’ve led two countries now. That’s two too many, in my opinion. But I can’t really rely on anyone else to make the change I want, so I’ve gotta do it myself.”

“Except Dimitri,” Sylvain added.

“Except Dimitri,” Claude repeated with a smile.

Sylvain tried to read over his vows again, but found that it made him too nervous. Instead, he turned back to Claude, who was now fixing his own hair in the mirror. “Y’know Ingrid’s pregnant?”

“No kidding?” Claude laughed. “Good for her. I know Raphael’s been talking about kids since before they were married.”

“Oh, but Raphael’s not the father,” Sylvain said, raising an eyebrow conspiratorially.

“No! Then who is?”

“It’s me. I am the father of the baby!” Sylvain declared, rising from his chair.

Claude gasped in mock horror, throwing a hand over his heart. “The scandal!”

The two men laughed at their own stupid joke as Sylvain sat back down. 

All of his friends came in and out a few more times before it was time for the ceremony to begin (Including Dorothea, though she had to dash out again due to some emergency with the catering.) Sylvain grew more and more nervous, but he tried to remind himself that this was Felix. He wasn’t going to care if Sylvain slipped up on a few words in his vows.

"Stop shaking, you big baby," Ingrid chided playfully. "You'll be fine."

"I just want everything to be perfect," he said.

"You can leave that to us. You just get your nerves under control," Claude instructed.

Now Sylvain stood at the entrance to the main room, trying not to let his fingernails dig into his palm hard enough to leave marks. He heard the band begin the wedding tune, which meant his cue was coming.

He stepped into the room and felt all eyes go to him. He tried to remember how fast he was supposed to walk. He normally had pretty good rhythm, but he felt like he was approaching the stage far too fast.

Nevertheless, he made it and stood to the left of Mercedes, who was officiating the wedding. (Neither he nor Felix felt like inviting someone from the church; he could still feel Seteth's eyes on him the first time he'd kissed Felix in the dining hall.) His groomsmen followed after and lined up to his left; Ingrid and Dorothea in stunning blue dresses (and Raphael was right, you really couldn't tell she was pregnant yet), and Claude and Raphael in suits that matched his.

He gazed out into the audience. The seats were arranged in two columns to make room for the aisle, but there wasn't really a distinction between his side and Felix's side, as they mostly had the same friends. However, there were two seats left vacant on Felix's side, with little papers on them marking them reserved. It made Sylvain sad, but they had both agreed that Rodrigue and Glenn deserved front-row seats even if they were gone. He could almost picture them there, smiling at him while simultaneously giving him the shovel talk with their eyes.

Rose came down the aisle next, tossing flower petals haphazardly. She had almost made it to the front when she tripped over her own two feet and went crashing to the floor. All of her petals went flying around her head and settled in a mess around her. Ignatz and Ferdinand immediately jumped out of their seats to pick her up and help stuff all the petals back into the basket. Despite himself, Sylvain was holding back a laugh. Ingrid nudged him. “Be nice to your niece,” she whispered.

Finally Rose had all the petals back, and she joined them at the front as Ignatz and Ferdinand sat back down. The interruption had thrown Felix’s groomsmen’s cues off, but they hadn’t really expected Rose to be perfectly on-time anyways. Sylvain watched Dimitri come in, trailed by Annette, Ashe, and Dedue, all dressed to the nines in the same dresses and suits as Sylvain’s groomsmen (groomspeople? Sylvain still didn’t know what to call them.)

And finally, finally, Felix walked in. He wore his hair in its usual ponytail, just slightly more carefully styled, and his suit was black and rather plain. Annette’s makeup hadn’t managed to completely erase the dark circles under his eyes, and he wore a slight frown, probably because his shoes were too tight. Sylvain had never seen anyone more beautiful in his life. 

Felix took his place on the other side of Mercedes, and she began reading her “Dearly beloved…” Sylvain tuned most of it out. He probably shouldn’t have, but at the moment, he found staring at Felix much more compelling.

“Would you two like to read your vows?” She asked.

Sylvain took a deep breath and pulled the paper from his suit pocket. “Felix, I spent a lot of time trying to write my vows. I just didn’t know what words could capture how completely enamored I am with you. You are the light of my life and the moon to my sun. I don’t think I would have survived the war without you. Hell, I don’t think I would have survived the academy without you. I was in disbelief that you were giving me a chance all those years ago, and I’m honestly still in disbelief that you’re now giving me the chance to be at your side forever. Every day I thank the goddess that your name appeared on my skin sixteen years ago.” He took a breath. “I want to wake up every morning to find that you stole all the blankets. I want to get up first and get your coffee ready just so I can see you smile. I want to take care of you when you’re sick, when you’re sad, and when you’re perfectly fine. I love you, Felix, and I want to do everything in my power to make sure we stick to that promise we made when we were kids.” He finally looked up at Felix to see his fiance blushing with a small smile on his face. Sylvain wanted nothing more than to kiss him. Damn this ceremony for making him wait.

Mercedes smiled. “Felix, would you like to read your vows?”

Felix pulled a small, crumpled paper from his pocket. “I spent a lot of time on my vows too. But I didn’t end up writing anything. It didn’t feel right to pen out poetics because, well, you know me. They’re not my thing. And comparing you to flowers or whatever wouldn’t do justice to the fact that you’ve stood by me for years and helped me through my most difficult moments. So, I only ended up writing three words.” He turned the paper around to show Sylvain. “I love you. Because I think that’s all that matters in the end. More than soulmates, or politics, or wars. What matters is that I will love you until the day we die, and then some.”

Sylvain nearly melted into a puddle of happiness right there.

Mercedes smiled. “Sylvain, do you take Felix to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do.” Sylvain had never been so eager to agree to something.

“And Felix, do you take Sylvain to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do.” Felix’s smile rivaled the sun.

“Then by the power vested in me by Saint Seiros, I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may kiss the groom.”

Sylvain wrapped an arm around Felix and pulled him in for a kiss. If he had been listening, he would have heard Claude’s wolf-whistle, Dimitri crying again, and Rose’s loud “Ewww.” But he wasn’t listening. All he could think about was the fact that Felix’s hands were on his waist, and that his mouth was on his. He wished he could live and die in that moment.

-

History would remember Sylvain and Felix as platonic best friends, pals so close that they died on the same day, as if conceding that one could not live without the other. But history couldn’t fool Rose Birgona Gautier-Fraldarius and Arthur Kirsten Galatea, who passed down to their children stories about true love that featured a flirtatious redheaded knight and a stoic dark-haired swordsman, made for one another in every single way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this story! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, probably too much. I write angst, but I LOVE fluff and humor too. Rose was so fun to write, I really want to bring her back in another fic.
> 
> Both Ingrid being pregnant and Sylvain and Claude pretending to be on a soap opera were completely spur-of-the-moment additions, so I hope they don't feel separated from the rest of the story.
> 
> Thank you for reading, I'll see you next time!


End file.
